Davis Martin pitched a combined 71 innings between the minor leagues and the majors last season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s at 80 2/3 innings this season for the Chicago White Sox.
Sean Burke combined for 90 2/3 innings in 2024 as he made his way back from a shoulder injury, including 19 innings during four big-league appearances. The right-hander has pitched 70 2/3 innings for the Sox in 2025.
Jonathan Cannon is coming off a professional career-high 162 innings in 2024 — 124 1/3 with the Sox and 37 2/3 at Triple-A Charlotte. He has 63 2/3 innings under his belt this season.
And Shane Smith was at 68 1/3 innings heading into Tuesday’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals at Rate Field. He pitched a combined 94 1/3 innings in the Milwaukee Brewers farm system in 2024.
The Sox are keeping all of those numbers in mind when it comes to workloads for their young starters.
“A lot of the guys, Burke, Shane, they didn’t have the longest season last year,” pitching coach Ethan Katz said Sunday in Arlington, Texas. “And then Davis coming back from Tommy John, having a shorter season as well. They’ve been going six innings every single time (this season).
“When there’s a situation like Burke’s game went sideways on us (Wednesday in Houston), so we pulled him out early (after 3 2/3 innings). We could have pushed more, but in those situations if we’re fortunate to have a bigger lead, maybe pull them a little earlier and continue to have those conversations.
“They’ve been going out there and giving us six quality innings over and over and over again, which is great from a standpoint, but when you’re looking at getting through a season, they’re gonna be at 180, 190 innings, which is not an intended target. We plugged in some other guys like (Mike) Vasil so Shane can get an extra day, and we’re going to continue to work these off days to try to give them a six-day, seven-day rest as much as we can.”
Vasil pitched Saturday and new addition Aaron Civale started Sunday. Smith initially was scheduled to start Sunday, but the Sox were able to push him back to Tuesday. He had last pitched June 10.
Manager Will Venable said those workload conversations among the coaching staff are “ongoing and daily trying to figure it out.”
“It’s a tough balance of trying to figure out how to do the best thing we can to protect the guys, especially these young starting pitchers who are getting to points in their usage that they’ve never been to,” Venable said before Tuesday’s game. “We just have to be mindful of what that looks like long term. And at the same time, they’re extremely important to us so we can win games and compete.
“Anytime you can capture an extra day for a guy, it’s useful.”
There’s a balance between rest and a pitcher’s routine.
“They’re very routine-oriented and these guys have done a great job,” Venable said. “There are going to be little things that we’re going to do to make sure we manage it and make sure we’re not asking them to do something different that might challenge or mess up that routine they have.”
Innings aren’t the only measure.
“It’s how they feel, how many pitches they threw, how many stressful innings they had — everything’s factoring in,” said Katz, who mentioned Adrian Houser being sick Friday in Texas. “For whatever reason guys have been really sick, so the environment here, they’re coming in the dugout gasping for air. I’ve got to give that information to Will that we can’t push them today. They try to give us everything they’ve got, but we’ve been dealing with that part too.
“It’s just dealing with the sickness, how they’re feeling arm-wise and then how much they had done before. If they’ve gone really deep, really want to make sure the next one we’re being mindful of how far we take them.”
Thoughts of eventually shutting down a young starter for the season haven’t been part of any discussions yet.
“We’ll take this rotation-by-rotation turn and see where we’re at down the road,” Venable said.
Lenyn Sosa returns from IL
The Sox reinstated infielder Lenyn Sosa from the 10-day injured list before Tuesday’s game. Sosa went on the IL retroactive to June 3 with a right hip flexor strain.
In the corresponding move, the Sox optioned infielder/outfielder Brooks Baldwin to Charlotte.
“He’s still a young player, and what he can do on this field and his skill set, he really needs to play,” Venable said of Baldwin. “We just don’t have that opportunity for him here. He’s part of our vision for the future here, and for him to get there and really develop, he needs to be in Triple A playing.”
The Sox also sent reliever Fraser Ellard to Charlotte on an injury rehabilitation assignment. He went on the IL on May 4 with a left lat strain. The Sox transferred him to the 60-day IL on June 8.
Cannon, who has been on the IL since June 3 with a lower back strain, threw a bullpen session Tuesday at Rate Field. He has an extended bullpen scheduled for Friday with a potential rehab assignment in line for early next week.
